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I-95 repairs underway after fiery crash in Volusia County

Crews are working to clean up the mess caused when a semitruck crashed along I-95 Wednesday afternoon. The wreck shut down traffic in both directions for hours. Adrian Whitsett (@AdrianWhitsett) has the story.

Crews are working to clean up the mess caused when the semitruck crashed along I-95 Wednesday afternoon. The wreck shut down traffic in both directions for hours.

It was a messy commute Wednesday along one of the busiest roads in Central Florida. I-95 was shut down for half the day, and I-4 was closed for hours as emergency crews worked to mop up the mess. The cleanup may continue overnight.

Crews are working to move burnt pieces of debris from I-95 to the grass nearby.

The first priority is to get cars moving again. Nearly 50,000 people drive northbound I-95 under the I-4 bridge every day, so it has to be fixed in a timely manner.

"The asphalt underneath got cooked, it's about 460 degrees. Three lanes that we've got to replace," said Steve Olson, with Florida Department of Transportation.

All of the resurfacing work will be short-lived. It will be stripped away again during the I-95 widening project.

"This is a construction zone and so all of this is going to get redone in the future anyway," Olson said.

Into the night, the charred asphalt will be replaced with new, hot asphalt.

There was concern about possible structural damage done to the bridge over I-95, however, officials said it was inspected by an engineer and looks good. Traffic is expected to improve by morning.

"They're talking 2:00 a.m., but the goal is to see if we can get it done earlier. Let's see if we can get this thing reopened," Olson said.